J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 

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I -*** . 3M ' | 

t UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.* 



WHAT IS FAITH. 



BY THE 






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h 



REV. R. H. BEATTIE 



' / 



" We walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Cor. ii. 7. 



PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST OF THE SYNOD OF NEW YORK. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

NO. 265 CHESTNUT STREET. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 
JAMES DUNLAP, Treas., 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 



The Library 

of Congress 



STEREOTYPED BY 



JESPER HARDING & SON, 

NO. 57 SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



CONTENTS. 



Faith as it relates to earthly things, - - ^5 

Faith in regard to eternal things, - - 14 

Characteristics of Faith, - - . 24 

1. Establishes a connection between us and 

the Author of our being, - - - 24 

2. Changes the objects and aims of life, - 26 

3. Provides new means and instrumentali- 
ty 28 

4. A new rule of life, - - - - 28 

Walking by Faith, 29 

1. Subsisting on the providence and grace of 
God > 29 

2. Having the glory of God as our final end, 31 

3. Finding rest in the favour of God, - 33 

(3) 



CONTENTS. 






PAGE. 


The Supports of Faith, . - 


39 


1. The Bible, - -, - 


39 


2. Analogy, 


45 


3. Expansion of our ideas, 


52 


4. Comparison with other schemes, - 


59 


5. Experience, 


66 


6. The victories of truth, 


- 74 



Application to the Ministerial Office, - 93 



WHAT IS FAITH? 



FAITH AS IT RELATES TO EARTHLY THINGS. 

What the eye is to the body, faith 
is to the soul. In relative importance 
and in office they are alike. The eye 
is a receptive organ ; faith is like this. 
Through the eye things outward be- 
come visible ; through faith things 
invisible become real. Light is the 
medium of vision ; evidence, of faith. 
By the one, we see what is to be seen 
in the world and through the universe ; 
by the other, we apprehend things 
w 7 hich are not seen in time and eter- 
nity. Mistakes are possible through 
either ; our certainty is as complete 
1* (5) 



6 WHAT IS FAITH? 

through the one as through the other. 
The eye is essential to the complete- 
ness of the body, as by it the ordinary 
operations of life are carried on. Nor 
is faith less essential to the complete- 
ness of the mind, and the moving 
and directing all its activities. Take 
the eye away and there is darkness 
every where ; remove faith and the 
world is a blank — only there is the 
difference that the eye may be lost, 
yet through other organs our con- 
nection with material things may be 
kept up ; but take faith away and our 
interest in existence is at an end. 
The eye determines where we shall 
set our feet step by step ; and faith 
determines our way of life. The eye 
leads the other organs and the whole 
body; so does faith the whole man. 
The eye acts under little light, or 



WHAT IS FAITH? 7 

much and all kinds of light ; but most 
and best of all under the light of the 
sun. And faith too acts under many 
kinds of evidence, in many subjects, 
and from many sources ; but most and 
best of all under that which comes 
from the divine mind directly. 

The infant shrinks from a strange 
face, yet is quiet, and without fear 
goes to sleep in the arms of its mo- 
ther. Why ? It has found where all 
is well with it. Acts of love without 
wearying, have already taught it that 
life lies in the favour of that mother. 
Its repose on her bosom is the repose 
of faith. 

The child has no thought for its 
life, but is free from care. It has a 
home where it finds nurture and all 
good things ; and for itself, the free- 
dom of the place. There is one who 



8" WHAT IS FAITH? 

bears all the care and charge, provides 
all ; and the child has only to do and 
live. Go where it may, it returns 
here, takes the free use of all, and 
lies down to sleep without thought of 
danger. The right, freedom and se- 
curity it feels are the fruit and evi- 
dence of faith — faith in those who are 
doing all for it. 

Early and life-long the world opens 
its stores of good to us. The child 
sees and admires ; the youth kindles 
into excitement at the spectacle ; the 
vigorous man pushes his schemes for 
making the acquisition with his whole 
strength, and far down the vale of 
years he still pants in the race. Such 
pow r er has faith — faith in w T orldly good 
— faith in our own means and plans. 
And hence the stir and commotion, the 
din and hurry to which there is no 



WHAT IS FAITH? 9 

pause, and which turns our entire 
nature into a restless sea. 

The occurrences of life which fall 
under our own eye, or which are re- 
ported to us ? become existent and im- 
portant to ourselves through faith. 
Testimony, like the evidence of the sen- 
ses, becomes the medium and ground 
of faith — as immense in its extent, as 
it is amazing in its power. It may 
embrace the account of all men and 
things now existing, or that have ex- 
isted, as it includes the testimony of 
all living witnesses, and of the departed 
whose records remain. 

There are laws which prescribe w 7 hat 
is just and right between man and man, 
and power and authority is delegated to 
a few to administer these laws. Com- 
munities consent to these, and under 
them rise to high prosperity. The cit- 



10 WHAT IS FAITH? 

izen feels secure, and his goods are in 
peace. Faith alone gives him con- 
scious safety. 

Systems of doctrine, in all depart- 
ments of science and philosophy, are 
constructed, are published, and gain 
currency among men. Faith gives 
them a reception and a place among 
things that live. 

Long after childish things have 
passed away, and the ministry of a 
father and mother has ceased, we 
find ourselves in intimate union with 
our own species. The bond is faith — 
faith in the position and power, it may 
be, of another, or in the acts, profes- 
sions, attainments, or moral qualities. 
Skill in the mechanic, genius in the 
artist, knowledge and experience in 
the commander of a vessel, or of an 
army, or in a member of the learned 



WHAT IS FAITH? 11 

professions, have power to command 
our confidence. Goodness, let it ap- 
pear where it may, has this power pre- 
eminently. Let the ordinary virtues 
of our nature appear in any, and they 
win confidence — as they grow more 
perfect, confidence increases. The vir- 
tuous mind — full of honour, integrity, 
truth, benevolence — kindles a trust, 
which stirs and unites more elements 
of our being than any other earthly 
thins;. 

That is to say, that which gives re- 
pose to our infancy, and, to our child- 
hood, exemption from care ; that by 
which the world has power to excite 
desire, and set all out by their several 
paths in pursuit of its promised gains ; 
that by which testimony takes hold 
of us, and sways us; that by which 
government and laws assume majesty 



12 WHAT IS FAITH? 

and authority in our eyes; that by 
which science and philosophy gain their 
influence with us ; and that which pla- 
ces us in union more or less close with 
our own race, as an act of our own, is 
faith. Through the busy life we are 
passing here, where our way is all un- 
known, faith leads us, and under it we 
go where we do, and become what we 
are. Nor does it take the lead merely, 
but to it we owe whatever energy 
marks our course. As it precedes and 
controls action, so, as it is strong, ef- 
fort is vigorous and constant. It con- 
nects our active powers with the inter- 
ests of the present world, and it forms 
the inspiration of the common mind to 
the pursuit of these. Faith anticipates 
results not seen as yet, and apprehends 
the way to these. Things which do 
not yet appear are thus substantiated, 



WHAT IS FAITH ? 13 

and lie out before the mind as real. 
In this way the various paths of life 
are filled, and mankind kept in con- 
stant pursuit of worldly good; for 
worldly good is not so much a thing 
of enjoyment, as of pursuit, and what 
each one pursues is hidden from the 
natural eye, and present only by faith. 
To it we trace the achievements of am- 
bition upon the battle field, and in the 
political arena, and of genius in the 
departments of art and science, and of 
skill and diligence in every field of 
honest and honourable exertion. The 
toil and sacrifices which meet us every- 
where in the humbler walks of life, 
and which have given us our great 
bankers, and commanders, and states- 
men, and masters in every profession, 
illustrate perpetually its power. 

Thus faith, as it has to do with 
2 



14 WHAT IS FAITH? 

earthly things, in its earliest form is 
repose in the favour of another while 
yet the use of speech is not known; in 
its highest form, it is confidence in a 
fellow being, grounded upon moral 
worth ; in its universal form, it is the 
apprehending and relying upon what- 
ever seems worthy of this. Ever is it 
the bond which unites us to earthly 
things, and the condition on which men 
become competitors for the various pri- 
zes that are offered. 

FAITH IN REGARD TO ETERNAL THINGS. 

The place which faith holds in re- 
gard to temporal things, is the type of 
the place it holds in regard to eternal 
things. It gives subsistence to these. 
Through faith we apprehend God, and 
the great things of his word. Why 
not ? He has declared himself and 



WHAT IS FAITH? 15 

these, and there is no special dimness 
about him or them. The heavens are 
to him what the types of the law were 
to the Messiah, in which in figure 
he became visible. His word, beyond 
this, as a mirror shows his perfections 
and glory. The universe is not as dis- 
tinctly before the eye, as is its Maker 
before the mind. No mountain, nor 
river, nor island, nor other natural fea- 
ture of the earth, is so fully presented 
to sight, as are the attributes of our 
Creator to thought. No city, nor any 
work of art, no man nor community, in 
what is essential to their being, is so 
entirely disclosed to the eye, as are 
eternal things to our minds. There is 
more left to conjecture, more on which 
we desire light, without the possibility 
of obtaining it. 

Our own industry has succeeded in 



16 WHAT IS FAITH? 

gathering fragments from the course 
of this world ; it has preserved detached 
thoughts of our race. In the Bible, we 
have the whole subject before us. The 
observations of mankind furnish hints, 
and here and there a hinge of the di- 
vine government; the Scriptures ex- 
hibit it completely. It were easy to 
demonstrate this. Our conception of 
God drawn from the Bible shows it, 
" God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and 
unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, goodness and 
truth." Every successive step brings 
out a new view of his perfection, com- 
plete in itself, and a fresh point of con- 
trast between him and all else, and so 
presents him in a clearness of manifes- 
tation, that belongs to nothing besides 
him. His challenge becomes irresisti- 
ble — " To whom then will ye liken me, 



WHAT IS FAITH? 17 

or shall I be equal ? I am the first, 
and I am the last, and besides me, there 
is no Grod." 

All eternal things, so far as named, 
are alike clear. Such are the offices 
and relations of God — Almighty Ma- 
ker, Preserver, Benefactor, Lawgiver, 
Lord and Judge of all. No relations 
between men, or between man and his 
works, that take the same names, are 
more obvious than these. The crea- 
tion of man, his immortality, the cove- 
nant made with him, his temptation 
and fall, the law of sin, and the reign 
of death, and the recovery of man, are 
topics as well defined, and as readily 
apprehended, as any other historical 
facts. The further we enter into the 
details and mvsteries of this book, the 
more this impression is confirmed. 

The divine subsistence in Three Per- 

- 2* 



18 WHAT IS FAITH? 

sons, equal in power, perfection, and 
glory, one in essence and life, suggests 
what we cannot comprehend ; but as a 
direct statement of this profound mat- 
ter, it is without any darkness at all. 
The eternal purpose to save sinners, 
the choice of mediation as the plan, 
the eternal covenant in which the 
plan was settled, the determining to 
whom the benefits of the covenant 
should extend, the fixing upon the 
only-begotten Son for the work of 
fulfilling its conditions, and for con- 
ducting its administration, are state- 
ments quite as intelligible as any re- 
corded acts of any human government. 
The union of the person of the eternal 
Son with the human nature, the steps 
and the measure of his humiliation, 
his obedience to his Father's will, his 
death, as a vicarious sacrifice for the 



WHAT IS FAITH? 19 

sins of his people, his resurrection, 
ascension, and glory, the offices he 
fills as expounder of the divine will, 
and high priest over the house of God, 
and Lord of all, with the blessings he 
dispenses, are remarkable not more as 
things lying beyond the range of our 
unaided faculties, than for the perfect 
distinctness with which they are ex- 
hibited. 

The Sabbath, the sanctuary, preach- 
ing, prayer, and praise, are not more 
obvious to our senses, than is the 
office of the Holy Ghost to our minds 
— his office in renewing the whole 
man after the image of God, by these 
particular steps — convincing us of sin, 
enlightening our minds in the know- 
ledge of Christ, renewing our wills, 
uniting us to the Saviour, and being 
himself the unfailing fountain of life in 



20 WHAT IS FAITH? 

the soul ; the act of justifying the 
ungodly that believe in Jesus; the 
putting such among the children ; the 
giving them present peace, abounding 
consolation, perfect holiness, and an 
abundant entrance into the heavenly 
state ; like the raising the dead, the 
judging the world, and giving to 
every man according to his works, are 
facts as readily apprehended as are 
the ordinary occurrences of life. Faith, 
repentance, love, hope, and the entire 
experience of the soul through the 
truth, " which is in all goodness, right- 
eousness, and truth," are names of 
things that are as perfectly marked, as 
any other mental acts or states. The 
business which is put upon our hands, 
living unto God, embracing self-denial, 
renunciation of the world, including 
its dictation and counsel in things 



WHAT IS FAITH? 21 

which pertain to God, personal sur- 
render to the authority of Jesus, and 
hearty consecration to the service of 
God under him ; the holding all things 
from God, and using all in well-doing 
for him — all expressed in one word, 
following Christ, is as easily discerned 
as any business the world proposes. 
The account of the soul which is 
furnished in the Scriptures, puts the 
subject before us in a light alike new 
and intelligible, as it clothes it with a 
grandeur that inspires us with awe. 
Let the results of all metaphysical 
investigations be brought together ; 
have we this ? — have we so much as 
an intelligible view of man? What 
other path of life, we may ask, is 
plain like that which lies before us 
in the law of God? Each separate 
thought of revelation is a great deep : 



22 WHAT IS FAITH? 

we cannot fathom it, neither can we 
mistake it. These truths are like the 
stars, self-illuminated, and which shine 
out without dimness or confusion upon 
every beholder. The Book bears this 
marvellous character — through it God 
has lighted up a new firmament over 
us immeasurably more gorgeous than 
that upon which our eyes first open. 

This new region of thought gives 
scope for a new exercise of faith. In 
this case, faith takes its highest sense, 
to give which exhausts all the ideas 
we have found it to embrace, as it re- 
lates to earthly things. What it is in 
the infant, which reposes in its parent's 
love, that it is in the soul's repose in 
the love of God. What it is in regard 
to testimony, and evidence generally 
about things temporal, that it is in re- 
gard to the divine testimony about 



WHAT IS FAITH? 23 

eternal things. What it is in regard to 
the interests of the present life, that it 
is in regard to the spiritual interests, 
which have opened upon us with the 
revelation God has made of himself. 
It is confidence in a person on the 
grounds of his power, his intelligence, 
and his moral perfections ; it is full be- 
lief of every declaration he has made : 
it is trust in God and belief of the 
truth found in his w T ord. 

Faith, in this case, differs from all 
previous exercises of it. In greatness, 
it corresponds to the subjects to which 
it engages and unites us. It also gives 
a new character to our existence and na- 
ture, as it finds its warrant and supports 
in grounds entirely distinct and new, 
and alike ample and sufficient. It intro- 
duces us into new conditions of being. 
It puts us under the controlling power 



24 WHAT IS FAITH? 

of this wondrous system of truth, and 
its more wondrous author. In this is 
the rise of a new spiritual experience 
and manner of life. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH. 

Faith establishes a connection between 
its and the Author of our being, not on 
his part, for that existed before, but 
on our part. The soul comes to the 
consciousness of the connection of its 
own being with his. It finds, what it 
knew not before, that it lives, moves, 
and has its being in God. As the 
branch lives in the vine, as the stream 
lives in the fountain, so has it now a 
conscious existence in God, The seed 
which is put into the moistened soil, 
will germinate in a cellar and grow into 
something there ; but brought out into 
the open air and under the genial in- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 25 

fluences of the sun, it finds in its 
new circumstances a full development. 
The Lord God is a sun, and through 
faith the soul passes into his direct, 
pervading, and all-controlling influen- 
ces. It lives, as seeing Him who is in- 
visible. In itself, it finds entire de- 
pendence, and it finds his claims and 
control no less absolute. Every aspect 
of the divine nature attracts and binds 
the soul to him. God in Christ recon- 
ciles the subject of sin. His authority, 
justice, holiness, and truth, vindicated 
and established in the cross, make him 
glorious in the eyes of him that believes. 
His compassion and grace, expressed in 
the freeness of pardon, and fulness of 
peace, inspire the soul with new affec- 
tions that take fast hold of Him. There 
is poetry and something more in the 
words, " Whom have I in heaven but 
3 



26 WHAT IS FAITH? 

thee ? And there is none upon earth 
that I desire beside thee. My soul 
thirsteth for God, for the living God ; 
when shall I come and appear before 
GodT 

The objects and aims of life are all 
changed. The question is no longer 
what the man himself prefers, but what 
God will have him to be and do. His 
own wishes and decisions go for nothing. 
The purpose of God in his creation, 
now known, is what he sets himself to 
fulfil. His conviction is, that he "no 
longer should live the rest of his time 
in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to 
the will of God." The questions, what 
he shall eat and what he shall drink, 
and who will show him any good, are 
not the gr§at questions any more. 
The heart is to be made pure, and the 
body turned into a temple of the Holy 



WHAT IS FAITH? 27 

Ghost. " One thing have I desired of 
the Lord, that will I seek after ; that 
I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
all the days of my life, to behold the 
beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in 
his temple." Along with this, holiness 
is to be extended, good and not evil is 
to be done universally. The whole 
man, with his body and spirit and 
means of effort and influence, is put 
under law to Christ; and nothing is to 
be sought or tolerated, but what has 
the sanction of His teachings and ex- 
ample. That he succeed in the 
world is no longer the essential matter, 
but that the authority and honour of 
God be asserted and maintained in a 
rightly ordered life. That he be rich or 
learned, or in honour, becomes a sec- 
ondary consideration — the higher aim 
of doing the will of God from the heart 



28 WHAT IS FAITH? 

having supplanted this. The order 
which God has laid down becomes his 
order, that we ourselves become sub- 
ject to the will of God, and the flesh 
subservient to the Spirit, and the things 
of this world, to those of the world to 
come. 

New means and instrumentalities are 
provided, and these are put in requisition. 
The mind apprehends the truth ; it sees 
the use of external ordinances ; it takes 
hold of these, viz : the word, sacraments 
and prayer, along with conversation, 
beneficent action, and godly living, and 
employs them in the new service 
which seeks directly the Saviour's 
honour. 

There is a new rule of life, which de- 
fines our duties universally, and which 
through faith is transferred to the 
heart. The way in which we should 



WHAT IS FAITH? 29 

walk for evermore is defined, as in 
the word and example of the Saviour, 
so now in the apprehension of the 
mind. The rule is peculiar, in that it 
is a formal declaration of the divine 
will, bears the stamp of his authority, 
and through faith is actually put into 
the possession of man by his act. 

WALKING BY FAITH. 

Walking by faith includes the idea 
of subsisting upon the providence and 
grace of God. Independence becomes 
dependence; self-support gives place 
to waiting upon God in the use of his 
means. Man goes forth to his labour 
no more alone. The earth is the 
Lord's. Over it he ever ruleth by 
his power. The convictions which 
faith brings are such as Eliphaz ut- 
tered — " I would seek unto God, and 
3* 



30 WHAT IS FAITH? 

unto God would I commit my cause, 
which doeth great things and un- 
searchable, marvellous things without 
number : who giveth rain upon the 
earth, and sendeth waters upon the 
fields : to set up on high those that be 
low; that those which mourn may be 
exalted to safety. He disappointeth 
the devices of the crafty, so that their 
hands cannot perform their enterprises 
— but he saveth the poor from the 
sword, from their mouth, and from 
the hands of the mighty. He maketh 
sore, and he bindeth up ; he woundeth, 
and his hands make whole. He 
shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, 
in seven there shall no evil touch 
thee." To faith is disclosed a plan of 
providence, and a plan of salvation, 
alike perfect and unchangeable. These 
embrace all the proper objects of life, 



WHAT IS FAITH? 31 

bring them forward, and keep them in 
their right order, and open an infallible 
way to success. Faith accepts these, 
and now he who before laboured 
alone, becomes a co-worker with God, 
in a plan which conducts him to 
what he desires, and to all that is to 
be desired. If once he would have said 
of his successes, " My power, and the 
might of my hand hath gotten me 
this wealth;" the language he now 
holds is, " The Lord hath done great 
things for us whereof we are glad." 

And when we walk by faith, we 
have the glory of God as the final end of 
our existence in view. Beyond all 
earthly interests and all personal aims 
lies this, the common end of all. The 
Lord hath made all things for himself, 
and his glory is seen from all. If the 
universe be a lens, then is this its 



32 WHAT IS FAITH? 

focus. Every ray emanating from him, 
having fulfilled its mysterious errand, 
takes a direction to this point, and all 
combined form the perfect disclosure 
of his glory. If the sun be the image 
of the light which is inaccessible that 
surrounds him, the insect that dances 
in its beams, and the flower whose 
exquisite beauties are penciled by its 
rays, yea, all the beauteous forms and 
variegated scenery of earth lighted up 
by it, are but successive reflections of 
His glory, who fills earth and heaven. 
Every way of his providence, the 
most mysterious as the most familiar, 
like the plan of salvation, conducts us 
to a point — as though this were its 
single end — whence opens before us 
naught but an unclouded and bound- 
less view of the glory of God. Through 
faith, the soul rises to this great con- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 33 

ception of its own being and destiny ; 
and now and ever, its earnest inquiry 
is, how it may most honour God in the 
person of his Son ; and its interest in 
existence becomes intense, as its con- 
sciousness grows clear that God is 
glorifying himself, and will for ever be 
glorious in it. 

To walk by faith, is to find rest for 
our souls in the favour of God — rest 
from the cares which distract us, in 
view of the divine ends of earthly care, 
and the far better and more enduring sub- 
stance in heaven ; rest from the fears that 
disturb us, from the assurance of the 
full protection of our heavenly Father; 
rest from the troubles the world brings, 
on the ground that they are ordered 
and controlled by Him who is engaged 
to save us; rest from the sorrows 
which consume us, from the sympathy 



34 WHAT IS FAITH? 

breathed by the Saviour through the 
gospel for us. Faith discovers that 
life lies in his favour, and so puts an 
end to our looking for any good out of 
this ; faith follows the counsel, " Cast 
all your care upon him ;" faith accepts 
his assurance, " All things work for good 
to them that love God;" faith em- 
braces as true the statement, " All 
things are yours f faith beholds 
Christ upon the throne, introduces the 
soul into citizenship in his kingdom, 
and finds his present arrangements for 
our progress to every great object of 
life, not more complete than is the enter- 
tainment provided in the heavenly 
state when the labour here is over. 
For these are mutually connected and 
dependent — parts of one whole, and to 
be in possession of one is to be conscious 
heir of all. As the heir apparent, while 



WHAT IS FAITH? 35 

yet a child, may find in the persons 
who have charge of him, in the atten- 
tions he receives, and in the measures 
which are taken with him, so many 
proofs of the greatness to which he is 
born heir, and as the title of King, the 
throne, the power and the homage are 
no less truly parts of the one inheri- 
tance, which is his when he is yet a 
child ; so does faith put us instantly in 
possession of such expressions of God's 
good will, and introduces us into such 
arrangements for our best good as are 
linked in with higher, and give us pre- 
sent assurance that what we have is 
the first part, and but the first part — 
itself the pledge of the inheritance 
which is "incorruptible and undefiled 
and that fadeth not away." 

And as faith in the lower sense and 
in the ordinary uses in the affairs of 



36 WHAT IS FAITH? 

life, fixes upon some one thing as most 
to be desired, and upon some special 
means for gaining this, which are plied 
with less or more diligence; so in the 
higher sense, does faith fix upon holi- 
ness as the interest of the soul, and 
the Lord Jesus Christ as the way to it; 
and as is the intensity of its desire for 
the holiness, is the tenacity with which 
it holds fast to him who is its Author 
and Finisher. It realizes the one as it 
becomes identified with the other. 
His offices embrace all and secure all, 
and the chief act of faith is receiving 
and resting upon him. The walking 
by faith is the having one's life hid 
with Christ in God. In Jesus is the 
source of wisdom and knowledge, in 
him is the virtue to cleanse it from all 
unrighteousness, and give peace to the 
conscience, and in him is the kingly 



WHAT IS FAITH? 37 

power which brings freedom from sin, 
submission and safety. He too is its 
guide all the way, the companion and 
friend who shares its griefs, lightens 
its burdens, encourages its hopes and 
whose communion cherishes and ma- 
tures in it what is true, honest, just, 
pure, lovely and of good report. 

Such is the sacred use of faith — 
into this does it convert life. In this 
use it is characterized by the magni- 
tude of the interests which life is 
found to involve, and the definiteness 
and permanence of the foundation on 
which they are secured. When our 
faith ceases to be simple belief in the 
evidence of our senses, and in the 
testimony of others like ourselves, in 
what relates to our business and inter- 
ests in the present world, and confi- 
dence in worldly acquisitions as de- 
4 



38 WHAT IS FAITH? 

sirable, and in our ways and means to 
gain them ; when it rises to belief in 
the testimony of God, on the great 
verities of his being and of our own, 
and confidence in Jesus Christ as the 
way out of all evil, and to life's true 
end; then do we exchange shadows 
for realities, and a foundation which is 
never settled, for a foundation that 
can never be moved. There is no 
venture, no more risk. God, in abso- 
lute perfection, is actually before us. 
The counsels of his heart are made 
known, and his way, which is perfect. 
His remedy for our sin is infallible, 
and his way of applying it is made 
plain. The example of Jesus we can- 
not mistake. He draws us nigh unto 
God now, and leads us nowhere but 
to the Father. No other work is so 
plain as that to which he calls us ; the 



WHAT IS FAITH? 39 

means to be used in no other case are so 
well known ; the motives are not so 
clear ; the helps are not so nigh ; suc- 
cess is not so sure. To believe in 
God, what is it but to put on Christ ? 
To put on Christ, what is it but to 
work the works of God? To work 
the works of God, what is it but to 
enter into the joy of our Lord ? 

THE SUPPORTS OF FAITH. 

What is there to sustain such faith ? 
Doubtless, the true answer is, the 
power and grace of God. Yet these 
are exerted in accordance with our 
rational nature ; and if the character 
of faith be extraordinary, it is not 
more so than are the supports of faith 
he has provided. 

1. There is the Book in which the 
truth is fixed in definite characters, 



40 WHAT IS FAITH? 

and made intelligible. Here all its 
materials are set before us in perma- 
nent forms, to be examined at will. 
Around this book, and the body 
of truth it contains, Providence has 
welded, link by link, a chain of ex- 
ternal evidence, that separates it from 
all other systems, and places it, as 
far as such evidence can do this, 
upon the foundation of a divine au- 
thority. The everlasting hills attest 
the record. Ararat and Sinai and 
Calvary are as pillars on which are 
inscribed his deeds. What a weight 
of testimony from them, touching the 
grand measures introduced into his 
providential government by which his 
interposition has so often saved us ! 
Rivers and cities, and seas and lands, 
not a few, render similar testimony to 
other parts of the record. The Nile 3 



WHAT IS FAITH? 41 

the rivers of Babylon, the Jordan, the 
Red sea, the Mediterranean, the Dead 
sea, and the sea of Galilee, states 
which need not be named, Nineveh 
and Babylon, Tyre and Sidon, Damas- 
cus and Antioch, Smyrna and Ephe- 
sus, Corinth and Athens, Rome and 
Jerusalem — the waters ever the same 
— the cities and states alike in their 
splendor and decay, remain as monu- 
ments — a chain of independent wit- 
nesses to the truth of the sacred narra- 
tive. But the Book speaks for itself. 
Its living characters, and all its trans- 
actions ; its tragic scenes, and their 
actors, are all before us under the 
light of distinctly enunciated and un- 
alterable principles of right, and com- 
mand our approval or condemnation. 
The intrinsic excellence of its matter 
bespeaks its Author. It is God who 



42 WHAT IS FAITH? 

claims to speak in it, and while there 
is nothing in it like us, there is every 
thing in it like him. Its contents fairly 
before the mind, are a manifestation 
of God to it, not less distinct, and far 
more complete, than that which is 
made by means of the earth and 
heavens. A man is no more certain, 
when his eyes are sound, that the sun 
gives him light, that its light removes 
the darkness that veils the earth, and 
discloses the actual forms and re- 
lations of material things, than he 
who apprehends the truth herein re- 
vealed, is that he too is in light in 
which the corresponding discoveries 
are made over the whole sphere of our 
moral being. If I know that the 
light of the sun is pure, as well do I 
know, from the revelation of God, that 
there is perfect moral purity in him. 



WHAT IS FAITH? 43 

If darkness be the absence of light, I 
am as fully assured that sin is with- 
drawal from God ; if darkness cannot 
generate light, I see as plainly that 
sin cannot produce holiness — that holi- 
ness is God displacing sin, and as 
clearly do I see that holiness is the 
way to happiness. 

The harmony between the teachings 
of this book and our intuitive convic- 
tions is complete so far as our own 
judgments are reliable ; and when we 
enter the region of mysteries, i. e., 
where the aspects and relations of things 
grow confused through sin, we here 
meet with nothing in the Scriptures 
that is out of harmony with our con- 
stitution at present — no, not in all that 
which lies out of the scope of our own 
discoveries. The measures taken for 
restoring the sinner are in keeping 



44 WHAT IS FAITH? 

with all antecedents in the divine ad- 
ministration, and furnish the medium 
of a combined exhibition of the divine 
perfections to which we know not a 
parallel. And what is of no less sig- 
nificance, the supplies for the necessi- 
ties which sin has brought in upon us, 
are wonderfully apt and complete. 
The change of state and of character, 
for which they provide, preparatory to 
our transfer to another sphere, where 
sin and sorrow shall not enter, does 
alone, as it does most exactly, answer 
our urgent demands. Divine renewal 
is the only adequate provision for the 
deepest necessities of our fallen nature, 
at the same time that it equals the re- 
quisites for endless life in heaven. 
With this notice of this support of faith, 
let us pass from it, assured of its suffi- 
ciency, and equally assured that no 



WHAT IS FAITH? 45 

view we can present of the word of God 
will ever show how sufficient it is. 

" Tis a broad land of wealth unknown, 
"Where springs of life arise, 
Seeds of immortal bliss are sown, 
And hidden glory lies." 

2. Analogy furnishes a distinct sup- 
port. In nature nothing stands by it- 
self. One thing is connected with other 
things; each is connected with all; 
all are dependent upon each. One 
thing is made for another ; the scale is 
ascending ; the lower is made for the 
higher. Elements sustain vegetable 
life ; the vegetable kingdom supports 
the animal; all minister to man. All, 
we may say, are made for man. From 
the lowest, each contributes something 
to what is above it, till the contribu- 
tions of all reach man. The Scriptures 
show us that this process does not stop 



46 WHAT IS FAITH? 

here. They fill the chasm between 
man and his Maker, and show us the 
process complete, as man, through re- 
demption, bears the revenues that 
come from all to him, up to the Maker 
and Lord of all. The plan brought 
forward in this book, which assigns 
man a place analogous to that of the 
other creatures, and which alone se- 
cures this practical result, we may 
justly believe to be of God. By it he 
is doing with us what he had done 
with all linked in with us, yet lower 
than we in the scale of existence. 

We carry this much farther. Earthly 
things are types of heavenly. The 
Sabbath foreshadows heaven ; the min- 
istry have a representative character ; 
the water of baptism is an emblem of 
spiritual cleansing ; the Lord's Supper 
is a significant representation of the sac- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 47 

rifice of Christ, and of the common life 
the believing have in him. These are 
appointed figures of eternal things; 
but not exclusive of other things. 
The earth is full of the goodness of the 
Lord. The products of his power and 
skill are of double service. They avail 
for our temporal welfare ; they minis- 
ter to our eternal. The rain and the 
dew, the mown grass and the tender 
herb, are signs of things vastly more 
important. And so is the sunshine 
now gilding the mountain tops, again 
bathing hill and valley, and the run- 
ning stream, and the fathomless sea ; so 
are night and whirlwind, and storm and 
hail ; the apple tree, too, and the palm, 
and the cedar, and every tree that 
hath seed in itself, and every plant, 
and the flower and the seed ; the ani- 
mal, also, in the beauty of its plumage, 



48 WHAT IS FAITH? 

the delicacy of its structure, and in its 
strength, gentleness, meekness, fore- 
cast, ferocity ; the sword, also, and all 
armour, the hammer, the adamant, the 
precious metals, implements of busi- 
ness, the arts of trade and of industry, 
all deliverances from evil, and all 
gains, our earthly relationships all, and 
our offices of authority and trust each 
one, our science and laws, our prosper- 
ity and adversity, our good and evil, 
our happiness and misery, birth, life, 
death. These all fill one office — fore- 
shadow eternal things — in which, so far 
as we can trace the Maker's way, they 
answer their great design. 

Like the hieroglyphics in an old 
Egyptian temple, where the worshippers 
meet no more, which once set familiar 
things before the eyes of living men, they 
certify us of a grand and imposing ser- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 49 

vice under a form of life, which has 
long since passed away. And as there 
is one sun which lights up our world, 
and one way of living in it; as by 
means of a common atmosphere, and 
other agents in nature, which conspire 
to fulfil a common design, and by nu- 
triment drawn from a common earth, 
which is to be prepared by our own in- 
dustry, and appropriated by our own 
act; so does the gospel reveal one God 
and Father of us all, and one atone- 
ment, and one life-giving Spirit, as it 
lays on us, in common, the necessity 
of repentance toward God, and faith 
toward our Lord Jesus Christ, as the 
method of our entering upon a new 
life, and the one way to the grand re- 
sult for which we exist here. The 
correspondence between the two plans 
— the one for making sure temporal, 
5 



50 WHAT IS FAITH? 

the other eternal good — is exact. God 
devises both. He provides all. He 
goes before, we co-operate with him. 
Life in each case begins in faith : and 
the faith in which the earthly life be- 
gins, is the most perfect type of the 
faith in which the eternal life begins. 
The parent — the being, of all that is 
created, who loves us best, excites and 
cherishes it in the one case ; God, who 
loves us more, comes in the place of 
the parent to receive it, and turn it 
into the instrument of a new life. The 
same grand difficulties are to be met 
in the two cases, and the like harmo- 
nies established in the problems touch- 
ing the absoluteness of God in know- 
ledge, will and purpose, and the depen- 
dence, liberty and obligations of man. 
Even in our failures, the resemblance 
holds. Our mistakes and follies throw 



WHAT IS FAITH? 51 

us from the track, and disappoint us 
of worldly success, as do also our vices 
and crimes; but they have a deeper 
significance, like our sufferings which 
do now connect us with an unseen, a 
righteous and an irresistible authority. 
The very government men establish 
and support is constructed out of mate- 
rials found in the moral constitution, 
which is derived from the Author of 
our being. It is our recognition of the 
principles of moral order on which the 
divine government is based, and our 
attempt to give them a practical appli- 
cation among ourselves. In this is a 
representation more or less full of that 
authority in the person of the Maker, 
which wisdom guides and justice estab- 
lishes for ever. In connection with 
this our attempt, grand moral questions 
— of which slavery is an example — are 



52 WHAT IS FAITH? 

kept ever before us, and we find our- 
selves actually dealing with subjects 
that have their root away in things 
eternal, and admit of no solution but 
in the wisdom and will of God. 

The Bible is to all this what the 
gospel is to the law. Its views of our 
being and relations, and the ends to 
which we are appointed — so extended 
and so clear — furnish the interpreta- 
tion, just as our own experience gives 
the fulfilment of all. When we pass 
on into the midst of the disclosures 
of revelation, these mute signs grow 
significant, and all nature becomes full 
of truth as it is full of life. 

3. The gospel exhausts its themes, 
as respects our faculties. It takes our 
ideas on spiritual things, and expands 
them to the limits of our faculties and 
indefinitely beyond. It takes our idea 



WHAT IS FAITH? 53 

of goodness, and it gives us a concep- 
tion of this in our own nature, which 
includes all it ever does when our 
minds act alone, and which adds to 
this, as in the graces that belong to 
godliness, vastly more. Nor is this all : 
it gives us our idea of goodness infi- 
nitely expanded, and this in a series 
of illustrations which leave us under a 
sense of our own feebleness to wonder 
at its length, and breadth, and depth, 
and height, as consummated in love that 
passeth knowledge. So with every 
other element of our moral being. 
Man regenerated and restored reaches 
a measure of perfection never dreamed 
of in our philosophy, and to which 
philosophy can contribute not an addi- 
tional idea. The gospel takes our 
ideas of virtue and vice, of right and 

wrong, of truth and error, of good and 
5* 



54 WHAT IS FAITH? 

evil, and expands these. How won- 
derfully changed from what they were 
as they come before us under the dim- 
mest light of our ignorance, or the best 
light of our wisdom ! No one of those 
transmutations of which we read in 
Arabian romance, exceeds the change 
that passes upon our own ideas, when 
they come forth clothed with the light 
of the gospel. The connecting the di- 
vine with the human mind in the man- 
ner it does, the introducing a new stan- 
dard of character and duty, and the 
bringing in the means and the power 
of effecting a spiritual renovation in us, 
lead to the disclosure of evil, where no 
evil appeared formerly, and of measures 
of good which had ceased to be visible, 
because of the darkness that had come 
in upon us with sin. 

The gospel is a series of solutions of 



WHAT IS FAITH? 55 

the problems which relate to our spir- 
itual being and destiny. Human rea- 
son has occupied itself with them, but, 
as it appears in the light of the gos- 
pel, only to make the demonstration 
complete that the wisdom of man is 
foolishness with God. Sin, as a fact in 
the history of man, has received its full 
enunciation only in this Book. In its 
first act, a transgression, of the law of 
God — the act, not of the individual, 
but of the nature, vitiating that nature 
throughout, blinding the understanding, 
depraving the will, corrupting the af- 
fections, producing impotence for fur- 
ther service under God, setting the 
nature adrift and upon a course of sin- 
ning, laying it under sentence of death, 
and exposing it to a perpetual curse — 
shown in the course of this world and 
in the dispensations of Providence, and 



56 WHAT IS FAITH? 

to be shown in the retributions which 
follow : — such a statement comprehend- 
ing our entire nature, and correspond- 
ing to the facts throughout, is made 
only by the wisdom which framed this 
Book. 

The idea of sacrifice, as the method 
of putting away sin, is our own : how- 
ever introduced, found among us from 
the beginning. But as held commonly 
it is a mystery. The slaughter of an 
unoffending animal, as a propitiation for 
sin, is something the world has always 
done, but never explained. The con- 
nection between the means and the 
end does not appear upon any inspec- 
tion, however close. The gospel takes 
this idea : it brings forward the sub- 
stance in place of the shadow. It 
shows us the Son of God, in the form 
of man, descending into extreme hu- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 57 

miliation with us, and making the 
substitutionary offering of his services 
and of his sufferings the ground of our 
redemption, and the basis of a dispen- 
sation of mercy; bringing righteous- 
ness and life again to the world. It 
is in the Lamb of God taking away 
the sin of the world, the divine perfec- 
tions all shine out once more upon us, 
and in the presence of our Father re- 
conciled, we find the idea of sacrifice 
perfected. 

As an example of the completeness 
the gospel puts upon our ideas, let it 
suffice to mention the offices of the 
Saviour. Compare our native ideas 
of a Prophet, and of a Priest, and of 
a King, with the ideas of a Prophet as 
we have this in Jesus, whose word is a 
perfect rule of faith and life to every 
man, in every relation and service, and 



58 WHAT IS FAITH? 

whose Spirit is a present and infallible 
interpreter of the same to all who de- 
sire this; and of a Priest as this is 
found in Him, whose priceless offering, 
and perpetual intercession bring us un- 
qualified forgiveness, and free access 
to the Father, and confidence to ask 
what we will ; and of a King, as this 
is embodied in the Lord's Christ, whose 
administration looks to spiritual ends, 
every way to be sought, and at every 
cost secured, and being the continual 
acting of divine wisdom, justice, bene- 
volence and power, embraces all and 
fails in nothing; and behold the differ- 
ence between his thoughts and ours. 
Such perfection is ever found in the 
treatment of our subjects in the gospel. 
And when this is fairly known, what 
can we do but walk by faith ? There 
is no alternative we could adopt but 
would immeasurably degrade us. 



WHAT IS FAITH? 59 

4. A comparison of the gospel with 
other schemes of doctrine and life, 
adds not a weak support to faith. We 
find nothing else so good or that sup- 
plies its place. Not that there is any 
lack of schemes. The imagination, 
never at rest, is as prolific now as of 
old. Communism, Socialism, Mormon- 
ism, and Spiritualism — inventions of 
our times, invite public favour. Phil- 
osophy is perhaps not quite so disdain- 
ful, yet equally inflated by its professed 
discoveries as when it encountered and 
spurned the gospel on Mars' Hill. 
From this source many schemes in 
their principles and results are be- 
fore us. What the apostle Paul saw, 
we see, and more distinctly than he, 
for we have the working and products 
of the same spirit eighteen centuries 
more before us, and what he said of 



60 WHAT IS FAITH? 

the efforts of unassisted reason is true 
now : " The world by wisdom knew not 
God. Thinking themselves wise, they 
became fools." No other system of 
doctrine can ever compare with the 
gospel, for none can introduce its char- 
acteristic features. If it take its 
idea of God, then it must take its idea 
of sin; if it admit its idea of sin, then 
it must go on to connect the provisions 
found in mediation for our deliverance 
from sin. Or if it accept the doctrine 
of mediation, then it must incorporate 
the doctrine of sin. If it introduce the 
truth that God is love, then it must 
have the illustration of this which is 
found in the gospel, as without this the 
truth is without demonstration. Hence 
every other scheme must exclude, and 
in fact is found to exclude, those truths 
which constitute the distinction and 



WHAT IS FAITH? 61 

glory of the gospel. What they have 
left, in the comparison, is but the re- 
fuse. Of this the best evidence is that 
these systems actually discard God, or 
leave out all that in the divine nature 
which sublimates the gospel and gives 
it consistency, beauty, perfection, and 
power. If they rise to the character 
of profound spegulations, then they 
may not be without service in a limited 
sphere ; yet the difference of the ele- 
ments precludes comparison with the 
views of the divine nature, and of es- 
sential truth as set forth in the gospel. 
If they are practical systems, as Mor- 
monism or Spiritualism, then in their 
constituent material, and in their aims 
do they show that, while they admit 
of being compared with one another, 
they do not admit of comparison with 

the system of truth propounded in the 
6 



62 WHAT IS FAITH? 

Bible. A sinful man is a subject of 
contrast with a sinless angel; so is a 
scheme of impiety or of sensuality with 
the gospel, which carries our thoughts 
to personal holiness and infinite purity. 
The speculative systems leave the 
mind on the rack, and the heart far 
from rest; these other schemes sear 
the conscience and work away from the 
soul any remains of the divine image, 
or leave it without any increase of 
goodness; the gospel ever tends to 
change us into something better, as in 
the first discovery it makes to us of 
God, it gives us a ground of rest. 

The capacity of the gospel for good 
is a point so important that it should 
have a separate notice. Its principles, 
when received, displace what is evil in 
us, and what is destructive in the 
world. They restore righteousness, 



WHAT IS FAITH? 63 

order, and harmony in the soul, and 
universally as they are extended. 
They bring us at once to the Saviour. 
To learn of him and to follow him is to 
separate from sin. Whither he goes 
we know, and the way we know. 
This system is of the nature of light, 
which diffuses itself without being 
diminished, and which may guide a 
world, as it guides an individual, into 
perfect righteousness. Where philoso- 
phical speculation, divorced from re- 
vealed truth, and the practical schemes 
we have named, lead, may be known 
from the first ; for they set out with 
ejecting God, and can but bring a 
steady confirmation in ungodliness. 
It is not matter of doubt, that God 
is not in all their thoughts ; their 
schemes are not his plan ; they do not 
rest on his authority ; they do not 



64 WHAT IS FAITH? 

claim his support, nor depend on 
his blessing for success — plainly they 
show themselves to be none of his. 
Without God, they are without life. 
At the outset, they separate them- 
selves from the vital power which is 
found in the divine benevolence, and 
throughout they act in opposition to 
his designs. Discarding God, they 
are without power for good. 

And now, let modern systems of 
philosophy which are at war with 
Scripture, as Pantheism and Material- 
ism, spread among educated men, and 
let such systems as Mormonism and 
Spiritualism work their way every- 
where among the masses, they would 
be no substitute for the gospel. They 
would do nothing better for the world 
than the old masters of philosophy 
and old paganism did. They would 



WHAT IS FAITH? 65 

furnish entertainment to reason, they 
would direct mankind to sensual ends ; 
but they leave them without the know- 
ledge of God or way of access to him. 
They give us no impressions from this 
source ; they make us forgetful of our 
highest good; they surrender us to 
the full power of sin ; they lead us to 
despair. The gospel would be none 
the less needed then, than when it 
was first spoken by our Lord. The 
more fully they display themselves 
by taking root in our nature, the more 
clearly do we see the obligations of 
the world to the gospel, and the more 
irresistibly do we find ourselves drawn 
to it, as the only existing, and the 
only possible source of a true scheme 
of doctrine and life — possible, we say, 
since God moves in and with it alone. 

His presence effects whatever good 
6* 



66 WHAT IS FAITH? 

it accomplishes, and this may work 
with like success to the limits of his 
providence. 

Its capacity for good fills us with 
confidence. We cannot discard it, 
without discarding God and the only 
practical plan of being co-workers with 
him in fulfilling the designs of his 
benevolence. 

5. We name the support which is 
found in experience. There is a per- 
fect agreement between our own find- 
ing and what is affirmed in the word ; 
and this extends through all our per- 
sonal experience, and through all his- 
tory. The truth subjects itself to this 
practical test. It describes a change 
wrought by it in the soul, which it 
defines by our birth. It details its 
effects within the limits of our own 
consciousness and conduct. It propo- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 67 

ses new methods of procedure, and 
declares the results. It prescribes, in 
particular, one course which will put 
an end to doubt, and inspire us with 
fullest confidence. "If ye continue in 
my word, then are ye my disciples 
indeed ; and ye shall know the truth, 
and the truth shall make you free." 
They who use this test become satis- 
fied. Does the truth affirm our sin- 
fulness; does it describe sin in its 
nature, guilt, power, and effects upon 
the intellect, making it blind to spirit- 
ual things ; upon the will, fixing this 
in evil; upon the affections, alienating 
these from God ; upon our entire con- 
duct, turning this into revolt and law- 
lessness ; upon our condition, leaving 
to us existence without God, without 
holiness, and without hope ? There 
are souls that find all this in them- 



68 WHAT IS FAITH? 

selves. Does the truth propose a Sa- 
viour, and invite our confidence in 
him, and assure us of pardon and 
peace ? The same mind, through the 
believing acceptance of the Saviour 
finds itself restored, its standing en- 
tirely changed, its relation to sin en- 
tirely changed, and its disposition as 
regards God and his will, entirely 
changed. Does the truth affirm, that 
he who confesses and forsakes his sins 
shall find mercy ? He who does this, 
finds it so. Does it declare, that the 
blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin ? 
Nothing becomes more certain to our 
minds, than that holiness is derived 
from the virtue of the Saviour's death, 
and is found in union with him. Does 
the truth give assurance of the divine 
protection, guidance, and help under 
all circumstances, to such as live 



WHAT IS FAITH? 69 

godly ? Does it promise safety from 
temptation, and consolation under all 
grief? They who walk in the way of 
righteousness, have but one testimony 
on these points. He who repents and 
believes, aud obeys the gospel, through 
this very process, comes into pos- 
session of evidence that satisfies him. 
The gains of godliness which are pro- 
posed in the form of promise, are 
actually found. The discovery and 
possession are ground of assurance. 
As he who washes his person, and 
keeps his raiment clean and whole, 
and provides for himself a supply of 
wholesome food, who is cheerful, and 
enjoys good society, and keeps to 
industry and frugality, and enjoys all 
in moderation, extracts the most good 
out of his earthly life, and carries 
along with him the evidence that his 



70 WHAT IS FAITH? 

way is right and best, so he who 
enters upon the life of faith. He 
needs no further witness. " Godliness 
is profitable unto all things, having 
promise of the life that now is, and of 
that which is to come." 

In this department, the evidence is 
ever increasing. The testimony is 
uniform. One mind, under the saving 
influence of the truth, expresses the 
convictions of all other minds so af- 
fected. Such testimony has been 
rendered from every generation, and 
by persons in every stage of culture, 
and under every variety of circum- 
stance. From schools of science, from 
marts of business and trade, from 
fields of toil, they appear in growing 
numbers, who, themselves saved, as- 
sure us of the saving strength of the 
Lord's Anointed. From scenes of 



WHAT IS FAITH? 71 

burning rivalries, and of cruel strife 
and carnage, and of unhallowed plea- 
sures, not a few make their escape, 
through help brought them and salva- 
tion by the same grace, who, as spe- 
cial monuments of mercy, testify of 
the grace of God that is in them. 
Children and youth, upon whose eyes 
the world is just opening its enchant- 
ing scenes ; men and women in the 
maturity of their powers, who have 
passed into the midst of these scenes, 
and while the sun of prosperity is 
shining in its strength ; aged and vener- 
able men and women, from whose eyes 
these scenes are fast fading, do with 
one mind and one mouth glorify God, 
whom they have discovered in his 
Son Jesus Christ. The poor render a 
testimony, strong enough to carry the 
cause. The testimony of that other 



72 WHAT IS FAITH? 

class, without education, who cannot 
argue for Christ, but can suffer and 
die for him, is like it in force. 

The loveliest characters, the most 
useful and beneficent lives, the happiest 
homes of earth give forth a volume 
of testimony which decides the case. 
From scenes of sorrow, from the 
chamber of sickness, from beds of 
death, from prisons and dungeons, 
from the rack and stake, truth gath- 
ers her witnesses — a great company, 
clothed in white, of whom the world 
is not worthy. Combine the testimony 
of this kind, include in it the verifica- 
tion of Scripture in the form of pro- 
phecy, in the experience of the church 
and world combined, as attested by 
our own histories, and we have a sup- 
port of faith which no art can weaken, 
but which grows stronger with every 



WHAT IS FAITH? 73 

generation. It adds greatly to the 
character and sufficiency of this sup- 
port, to observe that the fulfilment 
of promise in the sanctification of the 
soul, and of prophecy in the great 
events of time, is not the result of 
natural laws, but depends upon the 
divine agency, directly and constantly 
exerted. The most sacred festival 
of the Egyptians in early ages — the 
Niloa — was celebrated upon the eve 
of tine overflowing of the Nile. There 
they rendered highest honours to their 
gods, and united their supplications 
that the waters might inundate and 
enrich their land. They thought that 
an event which depended upon the 
stable ordinances of nature fell out in 
answer to their prayers, when, in fact, 
it would have equally happened with- 
out them. Unlike this are the events 



74 WHAT IS FAITH? 

which fall out in christian experience, 
and in our world-history, in correspon- 
dence to promise and prophecy. There 
is no reason why the sinner should 
find in his own experience the holiness 
the gospel proposes, or why the events 
that transpired should occur apart from 
the constant operation of God. The 
fulfilment of the Scripture to man per- 
sonally, and to the world collectively, 
being a divine act, is a constant at- 
testation of the record by its Author. 
It is this that gives to the common 
christian mind its immovable confi- 
dence in the truth, and which gives to 
the truth, by itself, its sufficiency, as 
the practical support of the life of 
faith. 

6. The victories of truth form a 
support of the life of faith. The form 
in which divine truth comes in among 



WHAT IS FAITH? 75 

us is peculiar. " I am the truth," 
says the Saviour. Truth came to us 
not in signs and outward forms, not in 
thoughts clearly expressed, not in 
word, but in and with the energies of 
one, in the form of man, who has life 
in himself. Its existence here is 
perpetuated in the same connection. 
Hence it is a force, which through 
the ceaseless activity of mind and 
will, in one who is alive for ever- 
more, and who quickeneth whom he 
will, must act mightily against error 
and sin. There is an energy in it 
which pushes its conquests every- 
where. 

To estimate these properly, let it be 
observed, we have no difficulty in ac- 
counting for the success of error. 
This depends upon the corruption of 
nature. In this one fact, we have the 



76 WHAT IS FAITH ? 

explanation of the growth of error, 
into a paganism which overspread the 
earth; and equally, of the prevalence 
of systems of doubt and unbelief, and 
gross perversions of the gospel. But 
in this is not found any explanation 
of the spread of truth. How is it, 
that truth which exposes the vice of 
our nature, and propounds not one 
doctrine that flatters us, but a series 
of doctrines which mortify and abase 
us, and leave us no ground but for 
repentance, and send us as pensioners 
to the divine mercy for all things, 
makes a way for itself in the world ? 
God is in it, and this makes all plain. 
Its progress has been made against 
strong and steady opposition. It has 
had to conquer every foot of territory 
it holds. The physical force, the 
mental energies, the moral power of 



WHAT IS FAITH? 77 

the world have raised every possible 
barrier to its progress. Philosophy 
has stood aloof, and held it in scorn. 
Sensualism, in one class very grovel- 
ling, in another assuming to be highly 
intellectual, has aimed at driving it 
from social life. Weapons have been 
prepared out of science, of superior 
polish and keenness, before which it 
has been thought the gospel must fall. 
Hoary-headed scepticism, now as ever, 
furnishes to the multitude, free of 
charge, arms both for assault and de- 
fence, which, among such a race as 
ours, are fit for immense service. 
The sagacity of statesmen, the au- 
thority of the magistrate, the sword, 
and the entire force of government have 
been put in requisition, to arrest and 
exterminate it ; yet, without any ex- 
ception, the result, thus far, has been 



78 WHAT IS FAITH? 

the triumph of the gospel. The 
only form of assault that has seemed 
to prevail, and paralyze the truth, has 
been that made by the man of sin, 
sitting in the temple of God. 

The means of its progress have 
served to define and exalt it; the 
measures of its adversaries have served 
to discover its varied and ample re- 
sources ; and the extent of its success 
reveals its boundless power for good. 

The means have promised nothing. 
The first ministers were men to be 
laughed at by the refined, learned and 
influential. The doctrine they taught, 
excited the dislike of one class, and 
the ridicule of another — each moving 
in the van of society. It was a stum- 
bling block to the Jews ; to the 
Greeks, foolishness. Its preachers, in 
the eyes of one class, were the chief 



WHAT IS FAITH? 79 

of sinners ; in the eyes of the other, 
only babblers. The means have never 
been changed. The treasure has been 
kept in earthen vessels. Successful 
ministers, those who have accomplished 
anything in this cause, have been such 
as have known nothing but Christ, and 
him crucified; and have found work 
enough in expounding the mysteries 
of the kingdom. Other things have 
been done in the name of Christ, very 
great and marvellous, by other means, 
but the furtherance of the gospel has 
been by the preaching of the gospel. 
Other ways, other gospels have been 
devised, but they have come in with- 
out the sanction, they have lived with- 
out the blessing, and they have gone 
out, or are to go out, under the curse 
of Him, who rules in the midst of his 
enemies, and sends the rod of his 
strength out of Zion. 



80 WHAT IS FAITH? 

The means proper to the gospel 
have never been used in vain. The 
apostles record their experience : " We 
preach Christ crucified, unto them 
which are called, Christ, the power of 
God, and the wisdom of God." They 
lived long enough to witness such 
effects of the gospel, against stubborn 
prejudice, against polytheism, and 
against science falsely so called, as 
assured them that God was in it, and 
that his right hand and his holy arm 
had gotten him the victory. As men 
who find the enemy vanquished, and 
the field their own, they ask, " Where 
is the wise? Where is the scribe? 
Where is the disputer of this world ? 
Hath not God made foolish the wis- 
dom of this world ?" " The foolish- 
ness of God is wiser than men, and 
the weakness of God is stronger than 



WHAT IS FAITH? 81 

men." Their own insufficiency as- 
sured them of the presence and power 
of God, and they say — what else 
could they say? — " God hath chosen 
the foolish things of the world to con- 
found the wise ; and God hath chosen 
the weak things of the world to con- 
found the things which are mighty ; 
and base things of the world, and 
things which are despised, hath God 
chosen, yea, and things which are not, 
to bring to nought things that are; 
that no flesh should glory in his pres- 
ence.'' If apostles could say this, 
what must we not say ? We have be- 
fore us this spectacle. We see too the 
material force, the intellectual and 
moral power of ancient Rome fail and 
yield to the control of the gospel. 

We witness greater things than these. 
Within the kingdom of Jesus Christ we 



82 WHAT IS FAITH? 

witness a grand revolt; it extends to all 
provinces, to all departments, and to 
all classes. The government was 
seized ; its power and patronage were 
assumed by one who claimed to be the 
vicegerent of Christ. New laws and 
ordinances and institutions were intro- 
duced. The old order was subverted. 
If an ordinance was left, its design was 
perverted . Christ had a place in heaven, 
but with the provision that his offices 
were to be dispensed with on earth. He 
was no more the Prophet, teaching sin- 
ners the way of salvation, nor the Priest, 
by whom the heart-broken sinner might 
have access to the divine mercy, nor 
the King, in whose present authority 
all acts of government are performed, 
and all subjects have equal interest 
and immediate protection and help at 
all times. All this was changed sim- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 83 

ply by abolishing his own grand ordi- 
nance of preaching, and substituting 
for it a series of ceremonies. The 
whole capital of the old Roman world 
was invested in the scheme, truly 
named "the mystery of iniquity." 
Power was given it over all kindreds 
and tongues and nations. A change has 
come, and we see how. " I saw an- 
other angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting gospel to preach 
unto them that dwell on the earth, 
and to every nation and kindred, and 
tongue, and people ; saying, with a loud 
voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, 
for the hour of his judgment is come." 
But how is this great giant power to 
be assailed ? By what means, weak- 
ened, abased and abolished? Who 
shall begin it ? The truth sounded 
out, and the work was done. One is 



84 WHAT IS FAITH? 

called for, to give voice to the truth, 
and one is found. He was taking 
quite another course, when God gave 
him the story of Hannah and Samuel 
to read, and breathed into him the de- 
sire to have the Book which contained 
it. God gave him this, and gave him 
to know what he means in that word, 
"The just shall live by faith." With 
this knowledge Martin Luther became 
a new man. The hideous forms of 
wickedness found in that gigantic 
despotism were gradually unveiled to 
his sight, and he began to cry aloud. 
God gave him the courage and the 
power equal to the occasion. His 
friends beg him to retire from the post 
of duty and of danger ; his reply is, " I 
came to fight the battle of truth, and 
God is on my side." He confronts his 
sovereign with his officers and nobles, 



WHAT IS FAITH? 85 

and one more than all— the represen- 
tative of him whose throne is upon the 
seven hills; the demand is made that 
he recant — he calmly answers, "My 
conscience, and the word of God hold 
me prisoner, therefore I may not, nor 
will recant. Here I stand; I cannot 
do otherwise, so help me God, Amen/' 

" Crowned with the grace of everlasting truth, 
A more than monarch among kings he stood." 

The word of the Lord, by this man and 
by others of the like royal stamp, vindi- 
cates its ancient renown. The vast 
and rich results are before us. Achieve- 
ments so magnificent by instruments 
so weak assure our hearts before God. 
The changes in the tactics of the adver- 
saries of the gospel have been the 
means of revealing a power in the 
truth, which would have been other- 

8 



86 WHAT IS FAITH? 

wise hidden. We think it well, since 
there must be doubters, that powerful 
minds have doubted, and that the in- 
tellect of such men has been fully- 
whetted. Seeing there must be scep- 
ticism, we are satisfied to see the great 
thinkers, and the great doubters, start- 
ing on the scent of a difficulty in every 
direction, animating one another and 
following it as far as they are able. 
The time was when such minds were 
allowed to achieve splendid successes. 
There was none to question them — 
and the world crowned them. But 
these times have passed. No mind 
undertakes such mischief now, but finds 
another mind in pursuit, but finds it- 
self overtaken, detected and exposed 
in its evil work. Truth encounters 
error in every disguise, and in the light 
of its demonstrations, error after error 



WHAT IS FAITH? 87 

has become powerless. It is with 
wonder and delight we behold Paul, 
and Augustine, and Calvin, within the 
sphere of the visible church, meeting 
great and wide-spread errors, and full 
of deadly poison, and taking the 
strength and life out of them by the 
sword of the Spirit. 

We thank deistical writers, not for 
what they have attempted to do, but for 
what they have succeeded in doing — 
in giving us our Lelands and Paleys 
and Butlers. Even Hume did not live 
in vain, nor frame his grand sophism 
in vain — a sophism which fades into 
thin air before geological facts; since 
through this we have been furnished 
with the demonstrations of a Campbell 
and a Whateley. If Arminianism has 
done nothing else, it has, as the occa- 
sion, furnished for the reading of man- 



88 WHAT IS FAITH? 

kind the immortal reasonings of an Ed- 
wards. Persecution has aimed a death- 
blow at truth, it has been God's way 
of using blinded men to blazon the 
christian virtues, and develope the om- 
nipotent strength of the gospel. The 
persecuting government of the Second 
Charles shut up Bunyan in prison ; we 
are thankful there was a place, and a 
prison was perhaps the only place, 
whence he could have given his match- 
less allegory to his race. Neology, 
Materialism, Pantheism, the Positive 
Philosophy are doing their work like- 
wise, for they are summoning sancti- 
fied genius to new efforts, and are prepa- 
ring the way for the works of new mas- 
ters, of which more than the first fruits 
are already ours. Thus it has ever been 
since Jesus claimed all power in heaven 
and earth. The efforts of his enemies 



WHAT IS FAITH? 89 

have quickened the energies of his 
friends. As he sent forth apostles fur- 
nished with miraculous powers, and so 
fully equipped for their peculiar w T ork, 
so has he clothed with the armour of 
light the mind which he has claimed 
as his own, and qualified it for meeting 
unsanctified talent upon every field to 
which it has been challenged. Error 
is a condemned criminal, and since the 
coronation of Jesus it has been, like 
Cain, a fugitive and a vagabond on the 
earth. By apostles it was confronted 
at once by truth, and overpowered by 
it. The path of pursuit has been to 
truth, a career of victory. Nothing 
that apostles encountered has been seen 
these hundreds of years. Force after 
force has disappeared. Systems built 
with consummate skill, and of the best 
materials, appear deserted, or their 

8* 



90 WHAT IS FAITH? 

fragments only are visible along the 
wastes of time. The gospel lives, and 
is growing into strength and dominion 
through its incessant conflicts and suc- 
cessive conquests. 

The extent of the power it has won 
for itself, adds much to the strength 
of this support. How far and how 
rapidly it spread at first, we know. In 
our own times we have seen it unfet- 
tered, and taking a new hold of man- 
kind no less remarkable than in the 
apostolic age. As the undulations 
produced by the stone dropped upon 
the surface of the quiet lake, extend 
outward in every direction, and flow on 
to the shore, so do we see the truth of 
God make a way for itself to the limits 
of the Roman earth, and so now do we 
see it spreading, by a force and a law 
of its own, over the whole world. It 



WHAT IS FAITH? 91 

passes by no class, but like the light 
penetrates everywhere and serves all. 
In the Protestant Reformation, the 
Mediator has been purifying his temple 
anew. He has set up his candlestick 
in its place, the two olive trees supply 
it with oil, and the light goes no more 
out. The pulpit proclaiming the gos- 
pel of the grace of God, and the press 
giving a free Bible to all men, are 
working revolution and renovation 
throughout the race. The truth is no 
more driven into dens and desert pla- 
ces, and at the mercy of its enemies. 
It moves openly among us ; it receives 
the highest public honours. Every 
christian population, save where the 
son of perdition has sway, welcomes it; 
the heathen tolerate it. Aye more, 
the souls of millions, free and thirsting 
for God, demand it from the pulpit 



92 WHAT IS FAITH? 

and the press, as they demand daily 
bread; and souls without number not 
yet escaped from pagan darkness, are 
beginning to look and inquire for day. 
With all that is corrupt and corrupt- 
ing among men, we find that, to an 
amazing extent, genius moulds its pro- 
ductions, instructors prepare and deliver 
their lessons, society forms its usages, 
states — the first and greatest — frame 
their laws, and rulers administer their 
trust, in the light of divine truth. Over 
a wide area, sanctuaries, erected for 
the worship of one living God and for 
the public teaching of his truth, greet 
our eyes; — sanctuaries where millions 
meet whose hearts are fixed to seek 
the favour of God. The angel who 
has the everlasting gospel to preach is 
speeding his flight, and from out of 
many lands yet in pagan darkness the 



WHAT IS FAITH? 93 

voice of rejoicing and salvation in the 
tabernacles of the righteous reaches us. 
" The right hand of the Lord doeth val- 
iantly. The right hand of the Lord is 
exalted. The right hand of the Lord 
doeth valiantly." 

As we gaze upon the victories of 
truth, confidence fills our souls. Such 
have been the Mediator's ways, that 
our " faith stands not in the wisdom of 
man, but in the power of God." 

APPLICATION TO THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 

"We walk by faith." It is this 
which gives distinction, character and 
weight to the ministerial office. True 
of all who are in Christ by faith, it is 
preeminently true of 'those who minis- 
ter the gospel of God, and have the 
oversight of souls. Of all men, we, in 
our official duties, are laid under the 



94 WHAT IS FAITH? 

necessity of walking by faith. Divine 
things grow familiar — like objects that 
are known through our senses. The 
truth becomes spiritual light, before 
which all darkness and every mist of 
doubt passes away. The Bible revela- 
tion becomes the highest reason, the 
most profound philosophy, the all com- 
prehensive science, and in it we see 
the perfection of beauty. Such virtue 
is in faith, and such present grace does 
it bring. But it is ours, not to consume 
life reclining idly at the feast which 
wisdom has prepared. We are com- 
missioned to preach, teach, baptize, 
disciple the nations, and to feed the 
flock of God. It is laid upon us to de- 
clare the truth, not ours, but His, who 
made us and redeemed us, upon his 
authority, openly to all men. Men of 
like passions with others, it is ours to 



WHAT IS FAITH? 95 

stand in the name of God, and dispense 
this truth to our fellow men, which, 
in its first use, confronts them with the 
living God ; which makes the point — 
and there is no evading it — whether 
they will he for him, or against him; 
which defines the terms on which they 
may be one with him ; which comprises 
all motives to turn away from sin, 
and enter his service; and to accept 
which is to enter into a union with 
him, in which is life ; and to refuse 
which is to make a separation from 
him, in which is death — each without 
end. We are to repeat the utterances 
of the mind of God in this Book, shun- 
ning nothing, concealing nothing, chang- 
ing nothing, but careful to give the 
mind of God entire, and nothing but this. 
We are to do this, repudiating our own 
skill, wisdom and power, and under a 



96 WHAT IS FAITH? 

full conviction that we, yea, even Paul 
and Apollos, are ministers only, inca- 
pable of giving effect to the divine tes- 
timony, and, at most, serving only to 
bring the truth before the heirs of sal- 
vation. These are unknown to us ; and 
our whole work, beyond the mere ut- 
terance of the truth, lies in a region 
where we can neither see nor go. We 
become sensible that the light shineth 
in darkness, and the darkness compre- 
hendeth it not. We find ourselves ad- 
dressing our discourse to persons who, 
having eyes, see not, and having ears, 
hear not, and having hearts, understand 
not. We find that our work is like 
trying to make the blind see, and the 
deaf hear, and the dumb speak. All 
this we are satisfied must be done by 
means of the truth we minister. And 
then when the senses seem to be re- 



WHAT IS FAITH? 97 

stored, and the truth is no longer inef- 
fectual because it is not seen, we are 
confronted by a fixed and deadly aver- 
sion of the soul to accept salvation on 
the ground of the righteousness which 
is by faith; and all manifestation of 
the truth to the conscience in the sight 
of God serves, it may be, but to expose 
the measures of depravity — shown, now 
in utter insensibility, now in secret 
hostility, now in open defiance, now in 
the deliberate choice of perdition — de- 
pravity, not a particle of which we can 
remove or reach. There is a change 
to be wrought here for which the power 
of God alone is equal, and before the 
mighty force, and the mysterious work- 
ings of sin we are made to feel our 
utter impotence. The disguises and 
hiding places of sin are so many that we 
find exposure and pursuit unavailing, 
9 



98 WHAT IS FAITH? 

and we are cast upon Him who has skill 
enough, and power enough, and com- 
passion enough, to enter the house, and 
bind the strong man, and cast him out, 
and take possession himself. Thus it 
is through the whole work, beginning 
in the arrest of the sinner, and ending 
in the presentation of the saint before 
God. We are kept leaning upon his 
arm whose the work is ; we are kept 
walking by faith. 

In matters of such fearful moment, it 
is safe and best to walk by faith. It 
turns life to ourselves into a course of 
training for a future of honour and 
glory, best carried on in this way in 
which we see the power and grace of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and are ever 
kept learning of him who was meek 
and lowly. The demonstration and 
power he gives the truth by his Spirit, 



WHAT IS FAITH? 99 

are our encouragement to constancy in 
the part he has assigned us. There is 
less uncertainty about success in this, 
than in any other walk in life. The 
word shall not return void, but accom- 
plish what he pleases, and prosper 
whereto he sends it. We are permitted 
to see it prove itself sharper than a 
two-edged sword, and the enemies of 
the Lord struck with terror, fleeing 
from his presence or suing for pardon. 
If the battle be the Lord's, it is ours 
to see the strongholds of sin fall, when 
he makes bare his arm, and stout 
hearts strongly fortified in error and 
unrighteousness, melting like wax at 
his presence. We witness darkness 
turned into light, and souls that were 
lost in the mazes of sin restored to day. 
We behold the prodigal's return through 
the power of a right thought which 



100 WHAT IS FAITH? 

God may have employed us to convey. 
We witness the prisoner set at liberty, 
and his galling chains removed, and 
we hear the song of the heart which 
the Lord hath made glad. We see 
miracles of the grace of God wrought 
through the truth we minister. " The 
Lord openeth the eyes of the blind, he 
raiseth up them that are bowed down. 
He healeth the broken in heart and bind- 
eth up their wounds." 

Into what scenes of thrilling interest 
faith has introduced us! Into what 
other scenes, how far surpassing these, 
it is conducting us ! We are co-workers 
with God. Our subjects are not tempo- 
ral but eternal, and we are never to quit 
them. We are only beginning to enter 
upon them. For what is all we witness 
here but simply a work of preparation ? 
Out of the wreck sin has made, God is 



WHAT IS FAITH? 101 

erecting a temple for himself. As yet we 
have been looking at this from without, 
and at a distance. It is the massive 
strength of its foundation, and the 
grandeur and exquisite finish of the 
porch, and the inimitable characters of 
the door which have kindled our admi- 
ration. We have at most but got our 
feet upon the threshold. The abun- 
dant entrance is yet to come. It will 
come presently. We walk by faith 
now; in a little it will be otherwise. 
We are upon the eve of entering 
into new conditions of being, as unlike 
the present, which are determined by 
faith in God, as these last are unlike 
those which mark the life of the natu- 
ral man. The earthly house of this 
tabernacle is to be dissolved, and then 
we have a building of God, an house 
not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. The one state surpasses the 

9* 



102 WHAT IS FAITH? 

other so far, that, though the riches of 
divine grace be accessible now, it is no 
sin to groan where we are, through desire 
to be introduced into our future abode. 
Language cannot express what is com- 
ing. Let us say, mortality is swallowed 
up in life. Let us say, at home in the 
body we are absent from the Lorcl, 
and, absent from the body, we are pre- 
sent with the Lord. We hail the ap- 
proach of the day of the revelation of 
Jesus Christ. It brings with it an 
advance over our present methods of 
beholding the glory, learning the mind, 
and enjoying the favour of God, greater 
by far than that which takes place 
here through the introduction of the 
revelation of God, and faith in this. 
"For now we see through a glass, 
darkly ; but then face to face ; now I 
know 7 in part; but then shall I know 
even as also I am known." 



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